Regional development

The Diversity of Immigrants across the United States: Causes and Consequences

Presentation by David Jaeger
Centre for Macroeconomic Research

University of Cologne, Germany

While it is well known that some areas of the United States receive more immigrants than others, less is understood about the extent to which the character of immigration varies as well. There is much broader geographic variation in the skill and demographic composition of immigrants than natives, with important implications for their economic effects. In this presentation it will be discussed the causes of immigrant heterogeneity as well as how that heterogeneity affects outcomes such as the share of population growth due to immigration, the presence of immigrant children in schools, and the effect of immigration on the age, sex, language, and educational composition of the local population and workforce.